Differences Between Felonies and Misdemeanors

Question: What are the differences between felonies and misdemeanors?

Answer:

In Texas, there are many types of felonies, and many types of misdemeanors, but generally, felonies involve the potential to go to prison while misdemeanors have the potential to go to jail. The difference is the maximum period of incarceration for a felony is up to life in prison, and on a misdemeanor the longest period that can be imposed is one year in jail.

There are felonies of the state jail, felonies third-degree, second-degree, and first-degree; those are increasing in severity. There are misdemeanors including Class A, which is the most severe; then there is Class B and Class C. The Class C misdemeanors are those that you go to municipal court for. Misdemeanors where you really have no risk of going to jail include speeding and littering; it’s a fine-only type offense. Class B misdemeanors are offenses like theft. A lot of first-time offender type offenses are Class B misdemeanors where you can go to jail up to six months and have up to a $2,000 fine. Class A misdemeanors are things like assaults and theft over a certain dollar amount. Those have a penalty range that can go up to one year in jail.

Most people that have clean records, other than traffic offenses, can expect there’s a very low likelihood that they’ll actually go to jail on a misdemeanor. On felony cases, if it involves a theft or something of that nature, the court’s going to want some restitution, some dollar amount paid back to the victim, to avoid going to prison.

In Texas, there are a lot of different categories. If you’re charged with one category, very often we can get the case dropped down to a lower category to lessen your punishment.